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WP SMTP Mail Settings for Recommended Web Hosts

This page is for readers of the One-Hour Website books. It lists, for each of web hosting companies on my recommended list, the values needed for setting up the plugin WP SMTP Mail.

The questions you need to find the answers to are:

  • SMTP server, sometimes called “Outgoing server”
  • SMTP Port number – normally 465 or 587.
  • Encryption – if their instructions don’t specify, use SSL if SMTP port is 465, TLS for port 587. If unsure, try SSL first as that’s the more commonly supported option at the moment.

Enable Auto TLS and authentication should always be turned on.

Dreamhost

Configuring the ‘WP Mail SMTP’ plugin on Dreamhost – last I checked they ask for Encryption = TLS and SMTP Port = 587.

Siteground

Go to the Site Tools screen (where you created the email account). The information you need is displayed there.

The SMTP Port is the value you need for the plugin configuration. 465 means they want to use SSL encryption, 587 is TLS.

GreenGeeks

From your GreenGeeks “Dashboard” (not your WordPress site’s dashboard), click Manage button for your domain. In the EMAIL menu, select Accounts. Find the email account you want to use for sending, and click the “…” control on the right. Select Mail Configuration.

screenshot: email configuration popup on greengeeks

The Outgoing Server and SMTP port are the values you need to fill in the plugin settings. SMTP Port 465 means they want to use SSL encryption. Greengeeks doesn’t support TLS now, but if that changes, they’ll use a different port number.

Hostgator

Once logged in, go to Hosting and then to cPanel. Find the Email Accounts icon and click that. There’s a list of email addresses there. Click the Connect Devices button to the right of the email address. Scroll down to Mail Client Manual Settings to find the “Outgoing Server” and SMTP port.

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